The Races and Languages of Oceania

London. Very Good-. 1887. First Edition. Pamphlet. 20 pages; Removed document. Text clean and unmarked in original self-wrappers. L.C. deposit stamp at top of front wrapper (duplicate - copy 3), ink inscription: "The Smithsonian / Institution from / the Author", presumably in the author's manuscript. Date printed at end -- "London, May 5, 1887" OCLC 16324027 This fascinating article later appeared in The Calcutta Review, October 1887; pp. 209-228. From the text: "It is my deliberate opinion, though it is arrived at with sadness, that European civilisation presents itself to races in a low state of culture with such frightful concomitants, that it is better for them not to have known it." "We hear of no legends. The people are truly cannibals, and revengeful, but they have been cruelly used by Europeans, and are justified in their retaliation." The author, a remarkable individual, Robert Needham Cust (1821 – 1909) was a British administrator and judge in colonial India, and also an Anglican evangelist and linguist. He was part of the Orientalism movement and active within the British and Foreign Bible Society. He was a prolific writer and wrote on a range of subjects. As a young adult, he was present at the battles of Mudki, Ferozeshah, and Sobraon in 1845-46, where his superior Major George Broadfoot was killed and at the close of the Sikh campaign he was placed in charge of a new province in the Punjab. There he filled in succession every office in the judicial and revenue departments across Punjab, and was rapidly promoted until 1867, when he resigned and returned to England, after having been a member of the Viceroy's Legislative Council and Home Secretary to the Government of India in 1864-65. Cust returned to England briefly on furlough and returned to work in Benares and Banda. For his accomplishments there, he was offered the high post of magistrate and collector at Delhi. He declined the offer and went on furlough again to England in 1857. After retiring to England, Cust devoted himself to scientific research, philanthropy, and magisterial and municipal duties, declining further reappointments in India. He was a member and officer in many scientific, philanthropic, and religious societies and a prolific writer. He was one of the few Victorian intellectuals to oppose the racist theories popular at the time. Along with John Bradford Whiting, Cust was against the abandonment of Henry Venn's policy of developing indigenous leadership in Africa. ; Signed by Author .